“Don’t walk away. Let’s talk about this.”

“What is there to talk about?” I threw my hands out, gesturing to the big, stuffy living room where I’d had probably thirty meetings with packs from all over the country in the last three years. “They don’t want me, Mom.”

I quickly swallowed back the emotion in those words. There was no way in hell I was going to cry in front of Katarina, and I certainly wasn’t going to cry in front of my mother.

“You could have given them a chance.”

“For what? To illustrate how thoroughly they expect me to be a clone of Eva?”

She floundered, looking for something which could combat the obvious. “Your sister’s details are very well known, and he was nervous. He probably just needed some more time without you treating him like a hostile enemy.”

“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I’m sure that’s it.”

That wasn’t it. It wasn’t even fucking close. Because being the twin sister to the biggest Omega movie star on the planet came with certain drawbacks, like everyone expecting you to be exactly alike.

I loved my sister, and she wanted me to be happy, too. But now that she’d found her pack and was happily bonded, every Alpha who missed his ‘chance’ with Eva now thought I would be a good replacement. And for once in my life, I wanted someone to want me for me and not because of who I looked like.

Walking over to my mother, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. Even when she frustrated me, I loved her. “Since I’m here I’ll go for a run on the grounds, but I’ll see you for lunch next week, okay?”

She managed to pull me into an awkward hug. “Of course, sweetie. Call me.”

“I will.” I turned away before she could see the tears starting to mist my eyes. That was the thing about my mom. She genuinely did want me to be happily bonded, but she had no clue how to make it happen. I wasn’t Eva, and I couldn’t ever be. Which probably meant I was going to be alone forever.

My twin sister was pushing in the front door when I’d changed into my running clothes. “Wait, where are you going? I know I’m late, but I wanted to watch some of the action.”

I smiled, but it wasn’t a good one. “No action. They’re already gone. I’m going for a run, but Mom’s probably still in there.”

Eva blinked, and I was out the door, but I didn’t quite leave. It was a shitty thing to do, and I knew it, but I went back inside after she made it all the way into the living room, and stepped close enough to the door to hear.